September 19, 2008

Obituaries

Please submit in writing to our office by 10 a.m. Thursday before the week of publication; be sure to state date of death. Obituaries of archdiocesan priests serving our archdiocese are listed elsewhere in The Criterion. Order priests and religious sisters and brothers are included here, unless they are natives of the archdiocese or have other connections to it; those are separate obituaries on this page.

J. Patrick Rooney sponsored educational choice for students

Holy Angels parishioner J. Patrick Rooney of Indianapolis, a longtime Church benefactor, died on Sept. 15. He was 80.

The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Sept. 18 at St. Monica Church in Indianapolis. Burial was at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Vincennes, Ind.

Rooney retired in 1996 after serving as chairman and chief executive of Golden Rule Insurance Co., a family firm, for more than two decades.

A social activist who worked to end racial discrimination, Rooney believed in helping the poor to help themselves.

He sponsored private educational vouchers so low-income children could attend private and parochial schools.

In 1991, Rooney initiated a Golden Rule program called the Educational CHOICE Charitable Trust to pay half of the tuition for 500 low-income children in Indianapolis to attend private schools. Later, he expanded it to other cities.

In 1998, he created the Fairness Foundation in Indianapolis to help uninsured people pay their medical bills.

He said Rooney “had a giant heart for children, especially children living in poverty, and a very creative mind.

“He was a pioneer, not only locally but also nationally in terms of raising children’s sights for what they can accomplish and what they deserve,” Therber said. “He made a huge impact in terms of putting kids’ lives on an upward trajectory through educational choice. … He had a special heart for the mission and people of Holy Angels Parish.”

He is survived by his wife, Karen Hall; four children, Christine Merchent, Cathy, Therese and Andrew Rooney; two sisters, Mary Kathryn Kunkel and Julia Ladner; and seven grandchildren. †